diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index e0aff5369f3b7ee3059095fc3531779e452e1db1..c257cdf525e2daa3b90140430327e6f5d2ea6bda 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -610,8 +610,8 @@ tar.umask::
 
 user.email::
 	Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
-	Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'
-	environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
+	Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL', 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL', and
+	'EMAIL' environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
 
 user.name::
 	Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
index 1571dbbb7449fb0d790fccf6b6adbca8d4f5c664..504a3aa1b460ffac9308bec4ff72cf657f8fec30 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ either `.git/config` file, or using the following environment variables.
 	GIT_COMMITTER_NAME
 	GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL
 	GIT_COMMITTER_DATE
+	EMAIL
 
 (nb "<", ">" and "\n"s are stripped)
 
diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
index 08ba53ae010bda8970642f142c1438b73b6c38d2..c5d02dacde7a299c05ba6d44da4c988091e502c2 100644
--- a/Documentation/git.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git.txt
@@ -345,6 +345,7 @@ git Commits
 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'::
 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'::
 'GIT_COMMITTER_DATE'::
+'EMAIL'::
 	see gitlink:git-commit-tree[1]
 
 git Diffs
diff --git a/ident.c b/ident.c
index 88e7f74e888f1c7b13182bf07afee01408e8e525..69a04b827d7805d9b29153e31e5489edb587690a 100644
--- a/ident.c
+++ b/ident.c
@@ -195,6 +195,8 @@ const char *fmt_ident(const char *name, const char *email,
 	setup_ident();
 	if (!name)
 		name = git_default_name;
+	if (!email)
+		email = getenv("EMAIL");
 	if (!email)
 		email = git_default_email;
 
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index f2c6bd3b01d39b8cc71bc624e0eaddc0681ae25e..dee3ad76212ea95c75c8287c8d8c0f312125bd06 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ unset AUTHOR_EMAIL
 unset AUTHOR_NAME
 unset COMMIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL
 unset COMMIT_AUTHOR_NAME
+unset EMAIL
 unset GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES
 unset GIT_AUTHOR_DATE
 GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL=author@example.com